[Ryen Russillo]There are people around the league who believe that Westbrook is available for trade

Of course he's available its Morey we are talking about but i doubt there are very many real suitors for his contract.

 

Of course they want us to trade him...Westbrooks been ballin!!

 

I am working on trading for small contract such as Beasley, Alex Burks, .....

Brick is not available because of Harden.

Why posters like 120 million contract so much? maybe posters want to trade Clark for Love.

 

A bit strange that you guys are trying to police the opinions of others on a public forum that revolves around basketball.

 

Russilo is connected he knows what he is talking about.

DD

 

LOL

 

I love westi' but I would do that in a heartbeat

 

He hates the Rockets and Morey so not sure what his so called sources are?

 

He is connected but this sounds more like conjecture by opposing front offices than anything tangible, and Russillo is just reporting it. Don’t think there’s anything here - why would you shop him when 1) he’s Harden’s BFF, 2) he’s had 2 months in the system and is finally starting to gel, & 3) we haven’t seen him with a fully healthy team (Harden, EGO, & Capela). Unless somebody has made a godfather offer, nothing changing.

 

Yeah this has become more common recently on podcasts and I think it needs to be spelt out more. There’s a difference between another front office executive saying Westbrook is available because they have had conversations, and an executive guessing that Westbrook is available. The latter gets reported more and more, which is fine, just need to be absolutely clear it’s front office gossip. Never forget of course, leaks to reporters are usually part of FO strategy to destabilise others.

 

will never happen. James wants to play with his friend.

however, its fun to speculate. nothing wrong with getting younger, more efficient, and adding more depth. would we be better off with Brogdon and a combination of warren, lamb, mcdermott, holiday, or bitadze for depth? or wiggins/roco? Brogdon is imo the perfect fit next to harden, super versatile, super efficient, great shooter/scorer/playmaker. wiggins is only 24 and turning it around this season.

won't happen but its interesting to think that we could be better with added depth instead of putting all our eggs into one basket (russ).

 

yall cry too much for real yall dont support the players on your team they have one game yall making post ready to ship them off

 

Don't be a stupid person.

DD

 

https://nypost.com/2017/08/23/espn-radio-host-ryen-russillo-arrested-in-wyoming/

 

The question is...

Who does fit with Harden..

They have brought in several good players and even all star players and they seem to not fit.. No matter the position..

T_Man

 

It's different when you're spinning your opinion as rumor, rather than just something you believe should/might happen.

I believe THAT is their beef here.

 

Chris Paul fit perfectly.

Dwight fit perfectly, he just foolishly refused to play pick and roll. He is now doing that in Los Angeles, unfortunately.

Westbrook doesn’t fit well, but that’s because he’s maybe the worst shooter in history.

The myth that Harden cannot be played with is silly.

 

Which one of those players really took off from a production standpoint after they left Harden/Rockets? Westbrook was just as bad at times with OKC if not less efficient. Howard had his final all-star production years playing with Harden before his career took a nosedive. CP3 is scoring below his career average, and especially showing a drop in his assists as now the primary ball handler for OKC. Parsons' career went where after leaving Houston?

I just don't see any evidence that Harden is making these players worse. If there is an issue to consider it's the coaching and how James is being used. Since Harden came over from OKC he's been put in nothing by high pick and rolls and isolation sets with quick spot shooters on the wings & corners. The reason the Rockets offense has been what it is, is because Harden has been perceived as the only real playmaker on the floor. That obviously has changed, and maybe so should the offense.

I really don't have all the answers though, but the problem isn't Harden. If anything Harden props this team up far above where they should be given the lackluster talent on the roster. Let's be honest about the supporting talent for a second... is any other team going to rely on Danuel House, and Ben Mcklemore to win games, and ultimately a championship? Hell no... there's a reason why both guys have been cast off other teams. Capela has also regressed in his development, and the third best player (EG) is injured, but underused as a 3 point shooter only in this system when healthy.

Where would we even be if Harden wasn't on this roster? My guess is we'd be a top 5 LOTTERY team.

 

Partly true.

the other side of the equation is they brought in a center with personality issues that quickly became a dinosaur in today’s league who has had to reinvent himself in order to be just a role player, a guard who needs to dominate the ball, was aging and oft injured and required a huge contract, and now a guard who can’t shoot in a system that requires spacing and shooting.

that they did the best with the second player mentioned above isn’t surprising. While CP3 also liked/needed to dominate the ball, he could at least shoot, play defense, limit turnovers and do little things that help. That they failed when he got injured also not that surprising.

the ideal fit next to Harden? A SF or PF version of CP3 that doesn’t have health problems.

that aside though you could maybe say that’s just hard to do absent a big market ala LA... or wise drafting in crap years. So... ok.... take the depth approach. Well with depth, in THIS system, again, spacing and three point shooting. Yet we never really have amazing three point shooters. We have solid ones. But not amazing ones.

I’m not even a Harden fanatic - in fact I remain on the side of until this guy can lower turnovers and out the same effort into defense as offense during a playoff run - and especially in the later rounds - the team will struggle to win that elusive chip. But even with that, I can admit the personnel around Harden has never been amazing. Solid... but pretty consistently the team is doing more with less, in the regular season principally because of Harden heliocentrism (what a new word...).

Put another way, trade the other teams #2 player (on teams that have been or seem to be better than the Rockets) for Hardens #2 player and in most instances I think the Rockets come out on top. Surely you guys would trade Russ for AD right now, or PG, or in the past trade CP3 for any of the Warriors big 4?? That isn’t as true of the Bucks - one reason I think Giannis was at least deserving of the MVP last year (and probably leader right now this year). Unclear about the Celtics or Nuggets - though because of age I’d probably trade Russ for Murray or whomever is #2 on the Celtics. But again... those teams have taken a MUCH better depth approach... and often those teams also have, imo, better coaching.

lots of excuses and a long way to say an all star level SF or PF, but absent that multiple better shooters and better coaching.

 

Also.... of course Westbrook is available via a trade. Depending on what the Rockets are getting back, I really don't think Harden would mind if the pieces better fit what he needed to win a championship. I think Morey is thinking about two things-

-Either trading Westbrook for pieces that better fit Harden now, and also help flexibility moving forward
-or Preparing for the possibility that this season goes south quick, and Harden requests a trade this Summer where Morey has to move both players

If Morey moved Westbrook for a bag of chips, or paid a team to get off his salary of course Harden would be ticked. He knows that Morey won't do that unless the season is a lost cause though. Everyone knows that. Morey really wanted to get off the CP3 contract, and saw Westbrook as a way of holding the value of the 2nd max contract a few more years, but you are kidding yourself if Westbrook is what the Rockets envisioned as their ideal 2nd star next to Harden to win a championship. I think Morey would LOVE to move Westbrook if he could get away with it with Harden, and Tillman.